Vilnius airport faces even more reconstruction

Lithuania’s biggest airport prepares for a massive four-year makeover of its terminal building.

Passengers endured major runway reconstruction that temporarily shut down operations for 35 days last summer, diverting traffic to nearby Kaunas. Now Lithuania’s biggest airport is preparing for a massive four-year makeover of its terminal building.

The €60 million construction work at Vilnius International Airport will eventually double its capacity.

The terminal building, which went through an earlier reconstruction project in 2007, has a design throughput of 9,500 passengers a day, ATW reports. In peak periods, this can rise to as much as 15,000.

Last year the airport exceeded its annual design capacity of 3.5 million by 300,000 passengers. After this new work phase, the airport will be able to handle 20,000 passengers a day, with an annual capacity of around 7 million.

“After the reconstruction, passengers will be provided with a faster and a more convenient customer service as well as an expanded commercial area,” airport director Olaf Martens said. “The refurbished terminal will also provide better working conditions for our employees.”

Inside and out
The work will start with the reconstruction of the sterile area, to be completed by the end of 2018. Then works on the apron and taxiway will be conducted together with the transformation of the airport’s public traffic infrastructure until 2020. Finally, the departures area will get a major makeover between 2019 and 2021.